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Phylogenetic identification and microbial diversity in snow of the summit (8201 m) of Cho Oyu Mountain, Tibet

  • Articles/Microbiology
  • Published:
Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

The bacterial diversity and abundance in snow of the summit (8201 m) of Cho Oyu mountain, Tibet, were analyzed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing followed by scanning electronic microscopy analysis. Most of bacteria were found to be of spherical or oval shape (>95%). Bacterial 16S rDNA sequences were classified into 5 genera (Caulobacter, Ralstonia, Cupriavidus, Pelomonas and Pseudomonas). Gammaproteobacteria were the most abundant (91.25%) among the library that consists of 594 clones. The sequences found in this study are highly similar to those previously retrieved from other cold environments, such as ice core, sea ice, permafrost and snow. The results showed that the cold and barren environments strongly influence the survival of bacteria. The high similarity among sequences retrieved from snow sample and other places, such as ocean, soil and water, suggested that the bacteria in snow, soil and water environments have the same origin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 101300, China

    XiaoMei Tong, Fang Chen, Jun Yu, Sang Hua, Ciren Asan, JiangBai Luosang, Wei Wang, Liang Yu, XiaoGuang Zheng & Jian Wang

  2. Beijing Genomics Institute, Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518083, China

    Fang Chen, Sang Hua, Ciren Asan, JiangBai Luosang, Wei Wang, Liang Yu, XiaoGuang Zheng & Jian Wang

  3. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Fang Chen, Ciren Asan & Wei Wang

Authors
  1. XiaoMei Tong
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  2. Fang Chen
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  3. Jun Yu
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  4. Sang Hua
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  5. Ciren Asan
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  6. JiangBai Luosang
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  7. Wei Wang
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  8. Liang Yu
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  9. XiaoGuang Zheng
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  10. Jian Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to XiaoGuang Zheng.

Additional information

Contributed equally to this work

Supported by the Knowledge Innovation Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KSCX2-SW-331).

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Tong, X., Chen, F., Yu, J. et al. Phylogenetic identification and microbial diversity in snow of the summit (8201 m) of Cho Oyu Mountain, Tibet. Chin. Sci. Bull. 53, 3317–3323 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0424-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0424-0

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